Greatest : The Quest for Sporting Perfection (9781473653672) by Syed Matthew

Author:Syed, Matthew
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hachette Book Group USA
Published: 2017-01-20T00:00:00+00:00

The Quiet Mind

13 June 2016

Andrés Iniesta already occupies a special place in the history of football, alongside the likes of Pelé, Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi and Johan Cruyff. But another superlative performance in France would, to my mind at least, take him clear of the field as the greatest player to have drawn breath.

It is not only the accolades that he has won at international level, but in club football, too. Since his debut for Barcelona in 2002, he has won La Liga eight times, the Copa del Rey four times, the World Club Cup three times and the Champions League on four occasions. Beyond his stellar statistics, however, Iniesta has another profound quality: he always delivers when it counts the most. He was an outstanding performer at the 2008 Euros, scored the winning goal (and claimed Man of the Match) in the 2010 World Cup final, and was voted Player of the Tournament (winning Man of the Match in the final against Italy) at the 2012 Euros. As Fernando Torres, the Atlético Madrid and Spain striker, put it: ‘I’ve been playing with him since we were fifteen and I have never, ever seen him play badly.’

It is sometimes said, in the context of these remarkable achievements, that Iniesta has been fortunate to play in two of the best teams in history. To my mind, however, this reverses the direction of causality. Spain and Barcelona have been wonderful teams, in large part, because they have been constructed around the genius of this gentle midfielder who, by his own admission, ‘cried rivers’ when he left home to join La Masia, the Barcelona academy, as a boy.

In the ecosystem of football we tend to focus on the most colourful and extravagant flora. When we think of Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, for example, we point to detonations of skill: extraordinary free kicks, mazy dribbles, leaping headers. This is why these figures have dominated the FIFA World Player of the Year award (in some cases, quite rightly). One can bring to mind their skill without even having to think (the so-called availability heuristic). Iniesta finds a different niche in the ecosystem. He is the soil that enables the flowers around him to grow and bloom. It is difficult to capture the totality of Iniesta’s gifts in a single, symbolic moment, because they are so fertile and diffuse. You can only discern his skill by watching ninety full minutes, training one’s gaze on how he receives the ball, opens up new vistas of space for team-mates, and, through immaculate control, retains possession. The effect of his contribution is cumulative and, by the end of ninety minutes, often decisive, but also complex and covert.

One of my favourite interviews involved Sir Alex Ferguson after Manchester United had been defeated by Barcelona in the 2009 Champions League final. I have to trust memory for the quotes because, despite persistent searching on YouTube, I have never found it. The interviewer was trying to needle Ferguson into admitting that United had underperformed, or that he had got things tactically wrong.

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